Too Much Exercise May Not Be Better Than a Sedentary Lifestyle

jones_supa writes: The importance of exercise has been arriving in spades for geek culture. However, when approaching extremes, a point is reached where vigorous jogging erodes some of the benefits light jogging has over a sedentary lifestyle. "Long-term excessive exercise may be associated with coronary artery calcification, diastolic dysfunction and large artery wall stiffening," wrote lead author Peter Schnohr of Copenhagen's Frederiksberg Hospital in a Danish study (abstract). Although previous research has found that physically active people have at least a 30% lower risk of death compared with inactive people, the ideal amount of exercise remains somewhat uncertain. In this study, strenuous joggers — people who ran faster than 11 km/h for more than 4 hours a week; or who ran faster than 11 km/h for more than 2.5 hours a week with a frequency of more than three times a week — had a mortality rate that is not statistically different from that of the sedentary group. Medical journalist Larry Husten notes that this study, while interesting, should not be taken as the final word on the subject.

Comments

Re:I'll save science billions of dollars in resear

[boristdog]

Exactly. My father was a big jogger in the 1970's and 1980's. He ran 5 to 10 miles almost every day.

Around age 68 he had to get a knee replaced. At 73 he had the other knee replaced. The doctors told him that pretty much anyone who jogged that much has to get new knees. Now he still has trouble walking long distances, which sucks for him since he lives in the mountains and loves to hike.

My father has advised me against jogging more than a couple miles twice a week.

Running = too much stress

[DogDude]

I've always thought that running and jogging was too jarring to joints and such. I stay in great shape by *walking* ~5-6 miles a day, but I wouldn't run. Walking (fast) provides the same benefit as running, but without the joint wear and tear, and of course, it takes about twice as long.